Dining Out: Le Pain Quotidien

New Yorkers, Londoners, Belgians and now Mumbaikars all have one thing in common when it comes to lunchtime: the presence of Le Pain Quotidien to meet their hunger for breads, tartlets, salads and snacks.

In most of its other outlets around the world, Belgian Alain Coumount's LPQ is regarded as unfussy, fast and unpretentious. So far in Mumbai the brand has more or less achieved two out of the three – though here’s hoping that its somewhat slow service (by no means the worst in town) is just an early teething problem.

Where opinions will probably divide on LPQ is its food, though. The omelettes are solid and as customizable as you’d hope, while the salads – we tried the Asian and mozzarella varieties – were fresh and diverse in flavour. However, for bread snobs (of which I’ll certainly admit to being one) Mumbai’s LPQ is yet to stake its claim as being the new home for breakfast breads. Both on the table and in the tartines, we found the bread to be a little dry and chewy, and not brimming with the kind of flavor you’d expect from a European bakery. Sure, it’s not too dissimilar to many of its nearest competitors (where the breads also tend to be oversweetened), but we were hoping a place that sees bread as its USP would have been a little bolder.

In the restaurant’s defence, we were told that LPQ’s master baker will be visiting to help improve the bread later this month, so we hope to return and find that there is one place in the city that delivers fantastic bread and doesn’t involve either five star hotels or early morning queueing.

Where Le Pain Quotidien will undoubtedly do well is its breakfasts, since on a second visit, its pastries did not disappoint. For the health freaks, the granola comes in a massive sundae-like portion – more than enough to fill you up after a stint at the gym. Currently LPQ opens at 8am and the owners are considering shifting to an hour earlier, which would make it one of the very few places in the city offering a top-notch continental breakfast for early risers.

The relaxed wood interiors and large group tables downstairs make this an obvious winner with those who want a leisurely lunch or snack; most of the competition is more formal and expensive than the LPQ brand. With the owners planning to open several more outlets this year, this could be a killer proposition – once the kinks in the bakery are leavened.